Fixing the Unfixable
by Kathryn Claire O'Connor
Summary: *Triadverse!seven-shot* Shawn died years ago before he could marry Cory and Topanga, but they never recovered from the wound that seemed unfixable... But then they met a pretty blonde waitress who was just as broken in her own right...
1. Chapter 1

**This chapter was originally written as a one-shot (thus it's shortness) but I decided to continue it, obviously. So this chapter is shorter than all the upcoming ones, and truly functions as a prologue of sorts. Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Unfixable**

They don't figure out until later that they need her. They were Cory and Shawn for practically forever before Topanga came along, so that's what they'll continue to be now that she's left them, right? If she wants to claim that the boys are more of a primary couple with her as their tag-along then they are a real triad, then they'll just take this chance that she's given them to prove her right, and they'll run with it.

They'll be fine. That's how this was supposed to happen… only that isn't what's happening right now. Right now Topanga's gone and Shawn started drinking again and Cory didn't know what to do to help him. Topanga was the triad's problem-solver when it came to the _real_ stuff, but she's not around now.

No, now Cory is pacing a hospital waiting room because Shawn got drunk behind the wheel and crashed because Cory couldn't reach him, because for the first time in forever – or so he thought – he wasn't enough to get him past the fact that _another_ person had left him. Now Cory and Shawn have no Topanga, and Cory's waiting to find out if Shawn is even going to make it off the table… or if there's not even going to be a Cory and Shawn anymore, either.

Cory was supposed to be the crazy one, the one who took everything too far and too hard, especially with something like _Topanga leaving_ , but Shawn… god help them, Shawn had _shattered_ , the pieces of him falling to the ground too quickly for Cory to know how to pick him back up again.

So now Cory was left to wait, feeling alone in a room that was crowded with his family, to find out if Shawn's body had been broken as far beyond repair as his spirit seemed to have been. Cory's too far gone to even cry – or so he thinks – until he hears his mom gasp behind him and turns around to see Topanga coming off of the elevator, tears already streaming down her face. He's never been so relieved to see anyone in his life, and he goes to her instantly. It's as if nothing ever happened at all, as if she'd never even left, even as the weight of what her leaving's caused presses in around them.

"How is he?" she chokes out, looking desperately up at Cory.

He can only shrug, even while he tries to tell her, "They don't know…"

But the words, his mouth, won't work.

Until someone else speaks, a soft, regret-filled voice filling the silence in the room that had previously only been broken by Topanga's sobs. A woman in a white coat whose face Cory can't even think well enough to focus on asks, "Shawn Hunter?"

Cory barely manages to nod, because he knows, he can see it in the woman's eyes. The doctor doesn't need to speak; Cory and Topanga can see it in her eyes, but he doesn't think he can bear to hear the words. He knows that Topanga couldn't; the woman's expression is enough to send her into a round of heart wrenching sobs the likes of which Cory's never heard before.

Shawn is gone. Dead and gone because Topanga left and Shawn got drunk and Cory couldn't fix anybody and all three of them were so busy feeling apart that they never realized just how connected they were, just how much they all three relied on each other.

Now they know, they learned the hard way… but Shawn is gone in a way that no one can come back from. He can't walk off of an elevator and back into their lives like Topanga just did, not this time. Now Cory's left with the shattered fragments of himself and Topanga to deal with, and once again he still doesn't know how to fix it.


	2. Chapter 2

_To my guest reviewer: This is a Katy/Cory/Topanga story, yes._

* * *

 **Chapter 2: What Doesn't Need Fixed**

After Shawn's death, Cory and Topanga had never really recovered enough to find another third – never even had any desire to do so. They moved to New York City so that Topanga could get her internship, and when Riley was born, the duo filed for a domestic partnership. Auggie was born, Riley dragged a broken blonde girl into their lives on her first day of preschool, and everything was just fine as it was. Cory and Topanga had their jobs and the practically weekly problems from their might-as-well-have-been-three children to keep them going and they were perfectly happy that way.

They were downright busy that way, actually, so much so that they hardly ever even had time to remember that they didn't have a third. As soon as one issue was resolved, it seemed like another one sprang up in its place... only sometimes Topanga couldn't help feeling that Cory still liked to make mountains out of molehills.

Like the issue with Maya's mother not coming to see her daughter's art in the middle school exhibit. Topanga – and Maya, for that matter – claimed that the matter was settled – as well as it was going to be, anyway.

"My mom and I are fine now, Matthews," Maya had insisted over Cory's concerns. "Sure, we're not great, but we haven't been that for years. It's fine, it's good, it's over. Just leave it that way."

But it was the Sunday night after the whole ordeal and Cory wanted nothing to do with that idea, no matter how much Topanga insisted that he leave it alone. Instead, he wanted to take Maya by the Nighthawk Diner after school the next evening and make sure for himself that things were okay on the Hart home-front.

"Cory, no!" Topanga argued. "You need to go with what Maya wants on this one and leave well enough alone. Please, you have to think about what's best for Maya, and you know that. What if you getting involved only reopens the wound and causes more problems?"

"But what if it makes things even _better_ between them to have a third party to sit down and talk things through with them?" he shot back. "Isn't that the entire idea behind the society that we live in?"

"Cory, I mean it," she replied severely. "Promise me you won't get involved in this."

He deflated on a sigh, acquiescing to her demand as he muttered unhappily, "Fine. I won't get involved in this."

But the fact of the matter was that Cory Matthews was and always had been a bad liar, and Topanga could see straight through him. He was going to do exactly what he wanted to do, and take Maya to that diner the next day…

So Topanga made up her own mind to catch him in the act before he could cause any further damage between Maya and her mother.

She beat him to the diner Monday evening, pushing herself up onto a barstool just before she thought the afterschool rush was due to start. She pulled out a proposed contract that she'd brought with her from work and slid her briefcase between the bar and her seat before she set to work reading over the document. She'd purposely sat down where in a spot where she could watch the door to catch Cory and Maya when they walked in, and she was so distracted between watching and reading that she was startled when a waitress spoke to her.

"What can I get for you?"

Topanga's gaze snapped up, eyes catching the pretty blonde's nametag on the way up to her face. _So you're Katy…_ "Um, how about just a glass of tea."

"Sweet tea or green tea?"

It might be a good idea to establish a rapport with Katy just in case it came in handy when Cory and Maya showed up… "Which would you suggest?" Topanga asked with a smile.

Katy returned the grin, studying Topanga for a second before she said, "Well, I prefer the sweet tea, but you look like a green tea sort of lady, so it's up to you."

"Then I'll trust your tastes this time around, I think, and try the sweet tea."

Katy briskly nodded, her smile widening a little before she poured a glass of tea and slid it across the bar to Topanga. Topanga thanked her, but before either of the women could say anything else, the predicted after-school rush swarmed in all at once, and Topanga was left with her contract and her tea. She sipped on one while abandoning the other in favor of taking stock of the woman who was now flitting busily around the diner.

Katy Hart didn't look like the walking disaster that Maya seemed to think she was. Sure, she looked haggard and worn out, like life had dragged her down and she didn't know how to get back up on her own, but she looked like someone who would be just fine if she had a little help every once in a while.

After all – Topanga already knew the facts of her past from Maya – Katy hadn't always been alone, and it _was_ hard to recover from some of the things that she'd been through; Topanga knew that much from hers and Cory's experiences revolving around Shawn's death.

Katy had been married once, in a solid triad until Maya was five years old. That year, Katy's husband and wife had been in a car wreck that Mr. Hart had caused; the wife had died, and Katy and Kermit's relationship had fallen apart in the wake of her death. Kermit had filed for a divorce and gotten together with a primary couple, taking the dead wife's infant son with him into his new marriage and severing all ties with his ex-wife and daughter.

The backlash Katy had felt in the face of what she and Maya both saw as abandonment had been staggering, and the aspiring actress had withdrawn, shutting her heart away from the world as she focused merely on the daily motions of survival. But sometimes, Topanga knew, she shut herself too far away, forgetting about things in even Maya's life, which left Maya often feeling that she'd been forgotten twice-over.

But somehow Topanga just didn't believe that abandonment could come from the woman behind that bright smile that had, if only for a moment, reached her eyes while they talked. She just seemed like someone who needed a caring person to reach out and lift her up…

And, really, she admitted to herself, Katy was pretty enough that Topanga found herself wondering how the blonde hadn't yet caught the eye of a primary couple willing to stick around and do exactly that.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Waiting for a Fix**

Predictably, Maya had insisted that it was unnecessary for Cory to take her to the Nighthawk Diner, and just as predictably, Cory had ignored her and all but forced her into coming anyway. And he'd regretted it the moment they walked in the door. Because the moment they walked in the door, he realized that Topanga had already been one step ahead of him and was sitting at the bar, covertly watching Katy move around the diner.

"You're going to get in trouble, aren't you?" Maya asked with a grin as she followed Cory's line of sight to Topanga.

"No," he snapped, guiding Maya to the table farthest from the bar before she could ask if they could just leave now.

"Face it, Matthews, your unnecessary little plan is already foiled," she declared, sliding into a seat across from him.

"No, it's not," he insisted. "We are going to sit right here and wait until your mother, not Topanga, but your mom, the waitress, comes by, and you are going to talk this out with her."

"She's obviously too busy to talk right now," Maya pointed out. "Plus, like I already told you, she and I are good – or as good as Mom and I ever get, anyway. It's fine, we're fine, there's no reason for us to be here."

"We'll see," Cory said resolutely.

Maya barely had time to roll her eyes before Katy stepped up to the table, surprise scrawled across her tired features. "Mr. Matthews. Hey, Baby Girl!"

"Hi," Maya replied with a small, unconvincing smile.

Cory announced, "She needs to talk to you."

"Is everything okay?" Katy asked, instantly concerned.

"Everything is fine," Maya said firmly, shooting Cory a withering glance.

"Well, ah," Katy looked torn as she glanced around the busy diner. "Listen, I, uh, you came at kind of a really bad time to talk. I'm sorry; do you think you could wait here until things slow down again?"

"We'd love to," Cory agreed before Maya could speak.

Katy shot both him and Maya grateful looks before she answered, "Okay. Do you want a tuna melt or something?"

Maya sighed in aggravated resignation before she said in exasperation, "Sure."

"I'll take a sweet tea," Cory said.

Katy nodded, giving him a smile like he'd just told her an inside joke before she scribbled on her order-pad and hurried away.

Cory and Maya settled in for what they knew was probably going to be a long wait, and he asked her, "Do you have any homework that needs done?"

"Nope," she answered quickly, still irritated with him.

"You have a history paper on the Civil War due at the end of the week," he reminded her absently, opening up his own briefcase and taking out a stack of papers to grade.

"The blue guys won, the other guys lost, and the slaves were freed, the end."

"That's not quite all that I wanted my class to get out of it," Cory remarked with a wry half-smirk.

"I already sit through your class," Maya snarked. "Can I please not get school during the rest of my day?"

"Okay," Cory said mildly, lapsing into silence as he decided not to poke the bear – at least not until it had some food in it.

Katy barely spared them both a glance as she dropped their orders onto the table along with a soda for Maya and darted off again. Taking a long drink, Cory again looked towards Topanga. He'd expected her to see them and coming charging over the moment she did; instead, he found her still watching Katy as she glanced every once in a while at the papers in front of her on the bar.

He did a double-take, making sure that he really recognized the look in her eye for what it was, and, yeah, he'd seen right. _Interesting…_ Not that he could blame her. Even as wrung out as she appeared, Katy Hart made a pretty picture, and Topanga had never seen the other woman before today. Still, since Shawn's death, it was extremely rare for either Cory or Topanga to look twice at a person.

Could Katy Hart perhaps be someone worth considering as their possible third? The idea caught Cory totally off guard. He'd known since he was two years old that he and Topanga were meant to be a primary couple, but he'd never considered anyone but Shawn as a possible third. So far as Cory knew, neither had Topanga. Yet, as he watched, Topanga and Katy caught one another's gaze and exchanged a smile, and he realized that all of a sudden he really was considering it now.

* * *

It was a couple of hours before the diner calmed back down to the state that it had been in when Topanga came in. She'd finished with the contract a few minutes before, and when she was certain there was a good chance they wouldn't be interrupted, Topanga tried to catch Katy's attention again as she walked by. After all, what would it hurt to talk to her for a few minutes, get to know the mother of her daughter's best friend?

"Hey, Katy?"

Topanga wasn't sure what possessed her to reach out and brush her fingertips along the woman's elbow as she passed by, just that she did it anyway, only for Katy to turn towards her with an apologetic expression and say, "I'm sorry, my daughter's here to talk to me, and she's been here nearly as long as you have waiting for me."

"Maya?" Topanga said in surprise, craning her neck to try and spot them. She hadn't even seen the girl or Cory come in.

"Yeah," Katy answered, sounding equally surprised. "You know her?"

Topanga chuckled when she realized that the waitress didn't know who she was. "Oh, yeah, silly me. I'm Topanga Matthews – Cory Matthews' wife, Riley's mom."

"Oh!" Katy exclaimed happily. "In that case, it's nice to meet you."

"You too," Topanga smiled widely.

At the same time, Katy's smile slipped a little as she asked curiously, "You wouldn't happen to know why Maya's here, would you? Mr. Matthews said she needed to talk to me, and she didn't look very happy about it. Is she okay?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: What Does and Doesn't Need Fixed**

"Maya's fine," Topanga promised, frowning a little at Cory when she finally spotted him and Maya, though he didn't realize she was looking at him. "It's Cory who's trying to stir things up. He's afraid you and Maya are still at odds, and he wanted to come see for himself whether or not you were."

"We're fine, I think, for us," Katy said, a near repeat of what Maya had said so many times.

"That's what Maya says too, and I believe you," Topanga promised. "Like I said, it's just Cory who wants to be convinced."

"I'm not sure how I'm supposed to do that," Katy replied uncertainly.

Topanga shrugged. "Why don't we _not_ make it the big production Cory wants? You and Maya could," she shrugged before suggesting casually, "Come back to our apartment and have supper with us, if you'd like."

Katy fiddled with her necklace, doing a poor job of disguising the way she pressed a hand to her heart as she smiled brightly and admitted, "I'd like that." And then she frowned. "But my clothes, and I'm sure you don't just have dinner guests at the drop of a hat-"

"Katy," Topanga interrupted with a kind smile. "We couldn't care less about whether or not you're wearing your uniform." She chuckled, "And as for spur of the moment guests, I don't know if you've noticed or not, but Maya eats at our house half the time without warning – not that we mind at all! She's like a second daughter to Cory and I, and now that I think about it, it seems only right that we should get to know her mother a little better."

Katy narrowed her eyes at Topanga, seeing straight through the logic to the true motive… but she smiled in agreement all the same and repeated, "I'd like that."

"Great!" Topanga grinned, acting on impulse to loop her arm through Katy's like she'd seen Maya and Riley do countless times before the two women marched over to where Cory and Maya were still sitting. Cory looked up in mild alarm, but was met with a grin from his partner as Topanga said, "I invited Katy over for supper – assuming that Maya was already going to be there, of course."

Something that Topanga didn't quite want to interpret just yet came into Cory's eyes as he looked between the two happy women before a smile stretched across his own features and he told Katy, "We'd be glad to have you."

"Yeah, Mom," Maya agreed, teasing, "Don't worry; they're all alright if you can get past their crazy."

"Well, I'm sure I'm accustomed enough to crazy not to be too caught off-guard," Katy answered sweetly.

"In that case, when does your shift end?" Topanga asked.

Katy looked over her shoulder to check the clock. "Right now, actually!"

"Oh," Topanga frowned. "I was hoping to have a little time to go home and get things ready before you came over. I haven't actually _made_ supper yet."

"I wouldn't mind coming over and helping," Katy offered. "If I'm going to eat it, I might as well help make it." She cut Topanga's protests off before they could begin, adding, "Plus it would be a good time for us to talk, get to know each other, like you were talking about."

So the four left the diner together and went to the Matthews apartment, walking in the door to find Riley, Farkle, and Smackle spread across the couch. Riley looked up guiltily when her parents entered, and Maya knew exactly why.

"Riley," Cory asked his daughter sternly, "What have we told you about having your boyfriend and girlfriend here when no one else is home?"

"Auggie's here," Riley protested weakly, too unaccustomed to doing things outside of her parents' wishes to be able to defend herself well. "He's just in his bedroom right now."

Maya jumped in before anything else could be said. "Don't worry, Matthews; I'll keep an eye on your wayward child and her dying innocence," she turned to her trio of friends on the couch before adding, "But I'll do it in her bedroom. Bay window _right now_."

Everyone in the room looked at her oddly, but her friends obeyed. Sitting down in the bay window, Riley screamed when she looked out the window, but Maya just rolled her eyes affectionately and opened it so that Lucas and Darby – Maya's own boyfriend and girlfriend – could come in.

"You texted, my lady?" Lucas asked her with an upraised eyebrow as he surveyed the gathering of their friends.

Riley asked her, "What's going on?"

"I have no idea," Maya admitted, beginning to grin slowly as she added, "But if I didn't know any better I'd think that our moms just found love at first sight in the Nighthawk Diner."

* * *

"Mommy! Daddy!" Auggie cried happily, darting into Topanga's arms as soon as Riley and her friends had left the room.

Topanga swung him up into an embrace with a grunt. "Hey! You're getting big, you know it?"

"Jenny Lewis says she thinks I'm turning into a hunk!" he announced proudly. "And Ava says I look sexy!"

Topanga's eyes blew wide and Cory barely choked down a laugh, while Katy's expression became a mixture of both. "Oh, yeah?" Topanga asked.

"Yeah," Auggie verified, wriggling so that Topanga would set him on his feet before he threw his arms around Cory's waist. "Hi, Daddy."

"Hi, little man," Cory replied, ruffling his son's curly hair affectionately.

Then Auggie suddenly became shy, partially hiding behind Cory's legs as he noticed the stranger standing beside his father for the first time. Katy crouched down in front of him with a smile as the boy peered out from behind his human shield. "Hi. You must be Auggie. I'm Maya's mom, Katy."

"Riley and Maya broke up last year because they said they were too much like sisters," Auggie pointed out. "It made me sad, because I thought they were going to marry each other."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: A Fixed Beginning**

"Aw, I hear you, buddy," Katy replied without missing a beat. "But they have new boyfriends and girlfriends now that make them happy, don't they?"

"Yeah," he said, still thinking over Katy's presence. "But they're not together anymore… so why are you here?"

"Auggie!" Cory objected. "That's rude."

"Sorry," he muttered.

Topanga answered evenly, "Katy's here for supper with us because Maya is still a very important person to us, right?" When Auggie nodded, she added, "And we'd like to get to know her mom."

"Oh…" Auggie answered slowly. "I see." Then he smiled, turned on a dime, and darted for his sister's room.

As Katy rose to her feet, Topanga declared, "Well, that was... interesting."

"You have interesting kids," Katy replied with a smile.

"So do you," Cory said, returning the grin.

"Thanks – I think."

"Okay," Topanga clapped her hands together, suddenly becoming all business. "Let's get dinner on the table."

* * *

"Do you guys hear that?" Riley asked, grinning as she held up a finger for silence.

The other six kids in the room smiled. "Mommy and Daddy are laughing!" Auggie declared.

"So is my mom," Maya murmured, sounding awed.

"So what are we going to do about it?" Lucas asked, looking between the two girls with a knowing smile.

Before anyone could answer, Cory called up the stairs, "Maya, Riley, Auggie – dinner's ready!"

"Well," Darby said, setting Auggie on his feet from where he'd taken up residence in her lap. "It sounds like you guys are going to go eat dinner."

"Do you four want to eat with us?" Riley offered.

"Nope," Farkle said firmly.

"Why not?" Smackle asked him.

"Because," he put an arm around each of his girlfriends with a smile. "Three is a magical number. Three adults in the kitchen and their three kids. Who are the rest of us to interrupt a family dinner?"

The kids exchanged knowing glances, smiles blossoming all around. Lucas and Darby kissed Maya on the cheek, Farkle kissed Riley and Smackle gave her a there-and-done hug, and then the four teens clambered back out the window and into the night. Riley hefted her brother onto her hip, swung her free arm around Maya's shoulders, and the three headed to supper.

In a way, it was a boring evening. The six of them ate and cleaned up the kitchen together, then Auggie played in his room while Riley and Maya fled to their bay window and Katy, Cory, and Topanga talked on the living room couch. It was different, having Katy there, but there was still a calm flow to things; her presence didn't _disrupt_ … because she just fit right in.

So she, Cory, and Topanga talked until the lawyer looked at the clock and declared, "I've got to put Auggie to bed."

"Oh!" Katy startled as she noticed the time herself. "Wow, I lost track of the time!" She stood, saying regretfully, "Maya and I should go."

Topanga frowned, "Oh, please don't. You could keep Cory company; I'll be right back."

"I do get lonely quickly," Cory told Katy, widening his eyes innocently.

"All right," Katy agreed, smiling at the duo's antics, and if she settled a little closer to Cory then she had been before, than no one commented on it. Topanga disappeared and Katy glanced around the living room, her gaze landing on what looked like the oldest framed photo on the walls. "Graduation?"

"From high school," Cory verified, looking fondly at the picture.

"Who's with you?"

Cory stood, going over to stand in front of the snapshot, and Katy followed to his side as he pointed out each person. "That's me and Topanga in the front row. The back row is my brother, Eric, and his then-roommates, now-spouses, Jack and Rachel."

Katy studied each youthful face, attention snagging on the handsome young man standing between Cory and Topanga, an arm slung familiarly around each of them. Cory hadn't mentioned his name. So she asked.

"What about that last guy?"

Only when Cory focused on the young man's image did Katy see his eyes fill with sadness. "Him? That's Shawn, Jack's brother."

Carefully, softly, Katy asked, "Where's he now?"

"He, ah," Cory's voice was far too neutral – purposefully being kept that way – as he answered, "He died. Our freshman year of college."

"He was your third?" she asked gently.

"Yeah," Cory nodded. "We were engaged for a little while… the engagement was broken off, and he… was in a wreck before we could reconcile. That was about sixteen years ago."

"I'm sorry for your loss," Katy murmured genuinely.

"Thanks," Cory replied, trying to shrug it off. "But it was a long time ago."

He still wasn't over it though – probably Topanga wasn't either – Katy decided; that much was evidenced by the fact that he and Topanga had never found another third. But she didn't say that, wasn't going to say anything more about it.

It was Cory who muttered thoughtfully, "I guess it's past time for us to get back out into the dating world, huh?"

"Only when you're ready," Katy answered instantly, leading the way back to the couch. "It's got to be harder when you already have kids, anyway."

"I guess you would know," he answered, settling back down onto the couch.

"You'd think so, huh?" Katy chuckled dryly. "But, actually, this is my first-" She snapped her mouth shut just in time, because this wasn't – it wasn't a date… was it?

Cory still caught on to what she'd been about to say, though. Katy thought maybe he got a little flustered as he said, "Good to know Topanga and I are not alone in that, then."

Katy _knew she_ blushed then, but before she could comment, Auggie ran into the room with Topanga following at a more sedate pace behind him.

"Auggie has a favor to ask you," Topanga informed Katy.

"Well, what can I do for you, sir?" the blonde asked him cheerfully.

"Can you read me my bedtime story?"

Katy melted – but before she could answer, the girls appeared on the stairs and Maya crooked a finger at the boy, saying "Hey, Augs, c'mere."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Fixing a Little at a Time**

Auggie bounded over to Maya, and she put her mouth to his ear, whispering something that the adults. Auggie shot Maya a dubious look, but Maya coaxed, "She's _really_ good at it…"

"Really good at what?" Topanga asked curiously.

Auggie raised his eyebrows at Katy and declared, "Maya says you should _tell_ a story instead."

"Oh, yeah?" Katy arched a playful eyebrow of her own. "What sort of story are you guys in the mood for?"

Riley requested, "A princess."

"Mr. Googly!" Auggie cheered

Maya happily growled, "Zombies!"

Topanga burst out laughing as the kids crowded around Katy on the couch. The girls sat on the back and Auggie fearlessly clambered into their storyteller's lap as Cory muttered, "Oh, boy, this is a story I wanna hear!"

"I thought teachers were supposed to use proper English," Maya said.

"I'm a history teacher, not English," Cory smirked.

Katy turned to him and asked, "Do you not think I can tell a story with Mr. Googly saving a couple of princess from zombies, Cory Matthews?"

Cory froze, recognizing that she saw what he'd said as a challenge. He shrugged slowly. "I don't know…"

"Well, let me tell you, then."

So saying, Katy Hart proceeded to regale them with a story that was exactly what she'd promised – Mr. Googly rescuing princesses from zombies. By the tale's end, Auggie was asleep on her lap and the girls were curled around one another on the oversized chair, clearly tired even if they were listening intently to what had been an absolute vocal _performance_ from the actress-waitress.

"So good I put him to sleep, huh?" Katy said self-depreciatingly.

"He must not have good taste in stories, then," Riley answered. "Because that was wonderful!"

"Maybe he just has bad taste in his storyteller of choice?" Katy hazarded.

Topanga yelped, "Absolutely not! Riley's right; that was very entertaining."

"Well, thanks," Katy replied, cheeks reddening a little at the praise. Then she seemed to shake herself out of it, nodding towards Maya as she said, "We should probably be going."

"Probably," Topanga agreed, even as she frowned in disappointment at the idea.

"Could Maya spend the night?" Riley asked impulsively.

"Why?" Cory asked suspiciously.

Riley replied honestly, "No reason. Just because she's my favorite person in the whole world and if I had my way she'd live here all the time."

"You mean she doesn't already?" Cory asked sardonically.

Topanga hit him on the arm, glancing with wide eyes at Katy as she yelped his name.

Seeing her discomfort, Katy smiled. "It's alright. We all know it's the truth – and I want to thank you for that. I'm really glad she has you two in her life."

"We're glad to have her," Cory replied, looking at Maya fondly.

She grinned back at him as Topanga put an arm around Katy's shoulders and suggested carefully, "You know… you could come around more too, if that's something you'd be comfortable doing."

The smile Katy gave was as timid and hopeful as the one she'd been given as she answered, "I'd like that."

"So would we," Cory told her, and the three adults on the couch studiously avoided looking at their daughters' overly-giddy faces as he changed the subject suddenly when he stood and held his arms out for Auggie, saying, "Let me take him and put him in bed."

When Katy tried to shift him up into his father's arms, he woke just enough to wrap his arms around her neck and mumble, "I want Katy to tuck me in!"

Topanga arched an eyebrow at the other woman, who shrugged, happily surprised again as she answered the unasked question with, "I don't mind." She looked ruefully at Maya as she said, "It's been awhile since somebody's wanted me to tuck them into bed."

Maya made a face back at her mom, but smiled at her in the end.

"Right this way then, Miss Katy," Topanga said, leading Katy, Auggie still in her arms, into the boy's bedroom.

"Can Maya stay over, Dad?" Riley asked eagerly.

Cory shrugged, feigning annoyance as he teased, "Why not? An evening without a blonde interloper in my home just wouldn't feel right anyway!"

He had no idea how true those words would become.

The very next night, Auggie demanded another one of Katy's stories to go to sleep to, so Cory called her and she obligingly started telling the boy a story over the phone. He fell asleep to the sound of her voice over speakerphone. After that, she joined Maya in her nearly-nightly dinners at the Matthews' apartment. All six made, ate, and put away the meal, Katy told a story in the living room until Auggie fell asleep, she took him to bed, and then she went home, sometimes with Maya, sometimes without.

Then she started spending the night herself every once in a while. No strings, they said to begin with – just a little fun every now and again… but the picture they made still managed to look pretty domestic for a no-strings agreement.

Topanga and Katy took over Mrs. Svorski's bakery together and became business partners. Maya spent less and less time in the apartment that leaked as her mom did the same, and eventually most of her things migrated into Riley's room. Topanga took it upon herself to get Katy to take at least forty-five minutes exclusively for herself every week. Katy got in the habit of making breakfast casseroles for the Matthews to reheat in the mornings instead of suffering through Topanga's oatmeal. Cory became Maya's go-to homework helper and Katy's practice partner for auditions. Riley realized that Katy was a makeup master when she found the time to put it on.

So, after much discussion between the two of them, Cory and Topanga decided to give her a reason to put it on. One evening after the three kids were already in bed, right before Katy walked out the door, they asked her to go out with them.

"Like… on a real date?" Katy stammered, her expression unreadable.

Cory nodded as Topanga repeated firmly, "On a real date."

"I thought we said we weren't going to do that."

Topanga answered, "I know that's what we said, but… why wouldn't we?"


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Fixed Forever**

"Because… because Kermit left me and… and you guys are still grieving over Shawn!" Katy nodded, repeating as if she'd found some sort of a lifeline, "Yeah, Shawn!"

It was Cory who reached for her hand and tugged her over to the wall of photos the two of them had stood in front of that first night she'd come over. "Don't you see?" he asked gently.

And suddenly, for the first time, she did.

The college photo that had once been front and center was still there, but it had been relegated to the side of the wall, crowded out by pictures of Katy and Maya with the Matthews's.

Cory, Katy, and Topanga, a sleeping pile of humanity on the couch as the credits rolled on _Shrek._

Katy, Cory, Riley, and Auggie dancing to Broadway music in the middle of the living room.

Topanga and Katy sitting together under an umbrella on the beach.

Cory and Maya with the blonde holding up her first ever A+ history test.

Maya, Katy, Riley, and Topanga doing each other's hair.

"Don't you see?" Cory repeated, gripping her hand. "Shawn will always be someone special to Topanga and I, but, Katy… while we weren't paying attention, we fell in love with _you_."

"We want to see where this could go," Topanga murmured, taking Katy's other hand.

Katy stared at the two of them for a long second before she gestured with her chin towards the living room and said, "The only place I could see it going is back here."

"What do you mean?" Topanga asked, hers and Cory's brows creasing in twin expressions of confusion.

Katy barked an amused laugh as she shot Cory's words back at them. "Don't _you_ see? I barely have any food in my fridge because I'm here so often, Maya - Maya _actually_ moved in here 'while we weren't paying attention'!" she swallowed before she asked quietly, "Do you realize that Auggie calls me Mammi when I tuck him in at night? Do you see that I've already fallen in love with you too?"

"Katy," Cory breathed, pulling her into a hug.

Topanga managed an "oh, honey," through her tear-clogged throat as she sandwiched Katy in the middle of a three-way hug.

Katy burrowed willingly into their touches, and when at last they released her, it was only for Cory to shock both women through and through when informed Katy calmly, "I don't think we should go on a date with you, sweetheart."

"What?" Topanga squawked at the teacher in horror.

Cory shot her a longsuffering glance before he turned to Katy and asked, "Why didn't you want to go on a date with us?"

Katy shifted on her feet, seeming to run through a number of possible copouts before she answered with bared-soul honesty, "I don't think I'd survive losing you guys. I'm scared to mess up what we have – whatever this is."

"What this _is_ ," Cory said. "Is _love_. Without even trying, you took a broken primer couple and somehow you fixed the things inside of us that we thought were irreparable. You got a sarcastic lawyer to fall in love with you at first sight."

"True story," Topanga smiled at Katy.

"I know the feeling," Katy admitted, and Topanga squeezed her hand before Cory continued.

"As for me… Katy, I wasn't going to fall in love again," Cory said. "I'd decided _years_ ago that it just wasn't going to happen, because I was never going to have what I had with Shawn with someone else… and in a way I was right. You and I are not Shawn and I – and I don't want us to be. You and I are something different and exciting and beautiful _in a different way_ … and I love that. Shawn was my love at first sight... you… I can't even tell you when I fell in love with you, just that I'm in love with you right now. And I don't want to lose that love any more than you do. I just want to make it official. So… maybe we shouldn't go on a date. Maybe that isn't the right starting place for us, because, honestly, I think that we're so far beyond that by now."

Finally Topanga was starting to understand what her partner was actually getting at and she smiled excitedly, nodding her agreement when Cory glanced at her for confirmation before he continued.

He finished slowly, "Maybe, instead of going on a date, you should move in with us and we could see what happens from there."

Katy gaped at him and Topanga's hopeful expressions for a long minute in silence before she announced in astonishment, "Cory Matthews, this is the most insane thing you've ever said in your life!"

"And you love me that much more because of it," he said, and though he tried to come off as cool and confident, Katy heard the underlying terror and hope in his tone.

Suddenly she was laughing, though she wasn't sure if it was at them, herself, the situation, or in relief or sheer elation. "Yeah," she nodded, pulling them both to her. "Yeah, I do. I love you both – for so many reasons – and I would love to live here."

Because whether or not they knew it just yet, somewhere along the way, Cory and Topanga had healed the broken bits of her too, and though she wasn't sure where they were going from here, Katy knew she wanted to spend the rest of her life with the duo that made her finally feel whole and happy again.

* * *

Upon hearing the news the next morning around the breakfast table – the kids never even blinked anymore if Katy was "miraculously" at the apartment when they woke up – Maya declared, "It's about time!"

Auggie asked curiously, "So when's the wedding?"

"Oh, no, sweetie," Topanga hurried to correct him, "We're not getting married; Katy's just going to live with us."

"For how long?" the boy asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Forever and ever," Katy answered decisively.

"Although, Auggie, that's an interesting idea," Cory mused thoughtfully. "Married..." He looked at Katy and Topanga, asking, "How long do you think it'd take to plan a wedding?"

"A year?" Topanga hazarded as her and Katy's smiles both started to widen.

"What happens after a wedding, though?" Auggie asked.

Riley beamed at him, declaring, "Forever and ever."

"Amen," Cory agreed heartily. "It's a fixed deal then."

* * *

 **Thus we reach the end of the story. I hope you enjoyed it!**


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